I spent the morning chilling at the hotel and finishing my blog.
It was so lovely just relaxing up on the roof terrace. I tried my first cup of Masala Chai….so good! 😋
I then got a taxi to the hotel that the tour is starting from, I’m a day early but figure that should be OK.
The hotel is around a 20 minute drive away, or it would have been if the driver had any idea where we were going! He stopped and asked about 6 people for directions 🤦♀️
We eventually arrived, and it’s not the greatest place I’ve stayed, possibly not the worst. It’s in a really busy smallish road opposite some sort of vertical car park, it’s an area with lots of hotels, that all claim to be 3* I’m not so sure!
My room is unfortunately at the front of the hotel facing the very noisy street.
There is a sign in the bathroom saying to contact reception before showering so they can turn on the boiler. 😳
The hotel doesn’t seem to have any communal areas, they offer food but it’s room service only and I think they order it in from outside. A guy at reception did point me in the direction of a nice restaurant, which was just up the road and turned out to be pretty good, a sort of fast food Indian place with a bakery, small shop and all vegetarian food. It was quite busy so I sat here for a while with a cup of Ginger Tea and a samosa reading my book. I then went back again for dinner, I had an Onion Rawa Masala Dosa, which was an onion and green chilli crispy pancake over some potato curry served with a very spicy Dahl and some mint sauce. It was pretty tasty, after I’d picked off all the green chilli’s! And a Bargin at £3. I bought myself some bottled water and an emergency packet of crisps!
It doesn’t feel like the sort of area I want to walk around at night, so I headed back to my hotel and an early night! I thought the noise might lessen at night, but sadly not. There is constant honking, shouting, cars revving and then at night there now comes very loud music! I have a few sets of ear plugs that I’ve carried around in my backpack for years, they finally had their moment!
I ordered breakfast this morning, tea and toast. I tiny cup of tea, 4 slices of white toast and a tiny sachet of jam on a paper plate, with a wooden knife.
To be honest, it’s not the greatest first impression of what to expect from this tour. I wasn’t expecting luxury but i did expect a little better.
I have booked & paid to stay back here the 2 nights after the tour ends and before my Tiger Safari starts. That’s not going to be happening! I have now booked another place that at least has a restaurant and an outside space.
That’s enough loaning for now!
I’ve managed to make good use of the time in my room by booking buses and flights and hotels for my onwards travel in Thailand and Turkey! So all good. This also includes meeting up with and traveling through Turkey with my Grantley!! I’m so excited. 😍😍 I haven’t seen him since last April! ❤️❤️
So, the time came to meet up,with my fellow travellers.
We had a group meeting with our CEO/Group Leader, Vik and the other 12 people. There are 11 women and 1 man. A mix of ages and nationalities, 2 Germans, 8 Canadians, 2 Brits (including me) 1 American. Everyone seems really lovely, quite a few have done G Adventure Tours before.
We went through our itinerary. Which sounds fantastic. Lots of great activities, working with and supporting local charities and projects, which is wonderful. One issue was highlighted, which we need more clarification on. That is our journey on the night train to Varanasi. The problem is there is a huge festival called, ‘Maha Kumbh Mela’ this festival is being held in Prayagraj in Utter Pradesh from 13th January to 26th February. It happens every 12 years and celebrates the full orbital revolution of Jupiter around the sun. The end of the festival coincides with another festival in Varanasi. We are due to travel to Varanasi by night train on the 26th February.
To give you some idea of how big the festival is and why it might prove difficult to travel. The festival will attract between 400 – 500 MILLION people over the 4 weeks!!! 😳😳 There have already been issues of stampedes at the festival with 30 deaths and also here in Delhi at the train station where 18 people were killed.
We are looking at the possibility of flying to Varanasi, although this may still be difficult. Varanasi itself is going to be mobbed. I will keep you posted on what the plan is!
After our me we all headed out to dinner, I was a little dismayed when Vik took us into a restaurant called Hooters! However, the name had a different meaning and the food was delicious. 😀
We grabbed water and snacks on the way back to the hotel.
I’m pleased to say that the group seems really lovely, friendly and fun. 😍❤️
Our first full day started early, 8am with a walking tour organised and run by an organisation called. Salam Baalak Trust. This organisation helps street and working children here in Delhi. Our guide, Kajahl, was helped by the organisation herself, and gave us a wonderful insight into the fantastic work that they do. They support over 10,000 children a year providing shelter, food, education, vocational training and mental health support.
I was incredibly impressed with the work they do and the fact that G Adventures are an active supporter.
From here we visited the Jama Masjid Mosque, which I visited the other day and had another walk around by Chandni Chowk area. We also visited another Sikh Temple, once again I am blown away by the community work that the Sikh Temples offer. The religion itself is based on acts of service. Beautiful.
Then the group split up, some choosing to,do a food tour, which sounded great, but it was quite expensive, especially for me as I probably wouldn’t eat very much! One lady went off to do a sightseeing tour and a few of us travelled back to the hotel and went out for lunch. Vik helped us choose by explaining the menu.
One of the things I’m going to love about the next few weeks is having someone else make most of the decisions and organise everything, but still affording me a level of choice. I suspect it’s going to be full on, but that’s OK.
Apparently we also had an earthquake here at 5.30am this morning p, which I slept through!
I’m feeling happy, relieved and excited.
Early start tomorrow so early to bed!
Books read.
All the wicked Girls. Chris Whitaker. Brilliant. I really love this author.
Have a great week everyone.
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Hereandthereclaire.com 